Bill Text: TX HB1916 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to requiring trauma training for certain attorneys.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-05-19 - Committee report printed and distributed [HB1916 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB1916-Comm_Sub.html
| By: Miller, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Huffman) | H.B. No. 1916 | |
| (In the Senate - Received from the House May 9, 2019; | ||
| May 10, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on State | ||
| Affairs; May 19, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: | ||
| Yeas 8, Nays 1; May 19, 2019, sent to printer.) | ||
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| relating to requiring trauma training for certain attorneys. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 107.004, Family Code, is amended by | ||
| amending Subsection (b-1) and adding Subsections (b-2), (b-3), and | ||
| (b-4) to read as follows: | ||
| (b-1) An attorney who is on the list maintained by the court | ||
| as being qualified for appointment as an attorney ad litem for a | ||
| child in a child protection case must: | ||
| (1) complete at least three hours of continuing legal | ||
| education relating to the representation of a child in a proceeding | ||
| under Subtitle E each year before the anniversary date of the | ||
| attorney's listing; and | ||
| (2) provide proof that the attorney has completed a | ||
| training program regarding trauma-informed care and the effect of | ||
| trauma on children in the conservatorship of the Department of | ||
| Family and Protective Services. | ||
| (b-2) The training described by Subsection (b-1)(2) may | ||
| satisfy the training requirement under Subsection (b-1)(1) in a | ||
| year in which an attorney completes the training. | ||
| (b-3) An attorney described by Subsection (b-1) shall | ||
| complete the training required by Subsection (b-1)(2) as soon as | ||
| practicable after the attorney is placed on the list described by | ||
| Subsection (b-1). | ||
| (b-4) The training required by Subsection (b-1)(2) must be | ||
| designed to educate an attorney regarding the attorney's duty under | ||
| Subsection (d-3) and include information regarding: | ||
| (1) the symptoms of trauma and the impact that trauma | ||
| has on a child, including how trauma may affect a child's | ||
| development, emotions, memories, behavior, and decision-making; | ||
| (2) attachment and how a lack of attachment may affect | ||
| a child; | ||
| (3) the role that trauma-informed care and services | ||
| can have in a child's ability to build connections, feel safe, and | ||
| regulate the child's emotions to help the child build resiliency | ||
| and overcome the effects of trauma and adverse childhood | ||
| experiences; | ||
| (4) the importance of screening children for trauma | ||
| and the risk of mislabeling and inappropriate treatment of children | ||
| without proper screening, including the risk associated with | ||
| increasing the use of psychotropic medication; | ||
| (5) the potential for re-traumatization of children in | ||
| the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective | ||
| Services; and | ||
| (6) the availability of: | ||
| (A) research-supported, trauma-informed, | ||
| non-pharmacological interventions; and | ||
| (B) trauma-informed advocacy to increase a | ||
| child's access, while the child is in the conservatorship of the | ||
| Department of Family and Protective Services, to: | ||
| (i) trauma-informed care; and | ||
| (ii) trauma-informed mental and behavioral | ||
| health services. | ||
| SECTION 2. An attorney who is on the list maintained by a | ||
| court as being qualified for appointment as an attorney ad litem for | ||
| a child in a child protection case on the effective date of this Act | ||
| shall complete the training required by Section 107.004(b-1)(2), | ||
| Family Code, as added by this Act, not later than September 1, 2020. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. | ||
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